Audit Report on New York City Pensioners Working as Consultants for the City after Retirement
Audit Report In Brief
The objective of this audit was to identify New York City pensioners working as consultants who appear to be violators of New York State Retirement and Social Security Law (RSSL) §211 and §212 or New York City Charter §1117 during calendar year 2009. These individuals —known as ‘double-dippers’ or ‘disability violators’—have been re-employed by a City agency and may be illegally collecting a pension from a New York City retirement system.
Audit Findings and Conclusions
The audit found that 11 pensioners working as consultants appeared to violate RSSL §211 – §212 or New York City Charter §1117. Ten pensioners appeared to violate RSSL §211 – §212 because they were under age 65 and received City wages exceeding the limitations without having a waiver on file, while one additional pensioner appeared to violate §1117 of the New York City Charter, which prohibits a disability retiree from earning more than $1,800 a year (including pension payments) in New York public service unless the retiree’s disability pension is suspended during the time of such employment. These 11 individuals received $192,681 in pension over payments during 2009.
Audit Recommendations
The audit made three recommendations, that the New York City retirement systems should:
- Investigate those individuals identified in this report and, if in violation of State or City regulations, commence recoupment action against said individuals.
- Forward to the Department of Investigation, if the circumstances warrant such action, the names of individuals found to be illegally collecting pensions.
- Send special reminders to service retirees under the age of 65 and to all disability retirees that clearly state their responsibilities regarding public service re-employment.
New York City Retirement Systems’ Responses
In their responses, officials from each of the five New York City retirement systems generally agreed to implement or stated that they were already in the process of implementing the audit’s recommendations.